PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Lady Jets truly knows the meaning of charity begins at home.
Case in point or points would be Thursday night’s 8-point victory over the Bethel Bees, 49-41. The charity stripe was sweeter than a candy stripe on a candy cane for the Jets as they poured in 14-of-16 from the line for 88 percent. The Bethel Bees on the other hand could only put in two of five from the unkind line for 40 percent.
The win in this Cross County Conference victory propelled the Jets to 4-3 overall and dead even in the conference race at 2-2. The Bees saw their record plummet to 1-3 and 1-2 in the conference.
The first quarter saw several lead changes with Franklin Monroe’s Jets finally gaining a 2-point advantage with a last second bucket by freshman Corina Conley to make it 9-7 after the first eight minutes of play. Conley led the way with four points in the period, Audrey Cable had 3 points, and Belle Cable finished up the scoring at the Hangar with 2 points.
The second quarter saw FM increase its lead by outscoring Bethel 11-7 for a 6-point advantage at 20-14. Conley again led the scoring in this frame with 4 points, all from the charity stripe, while Audrey Cable followed closely with 3 points and Tara Goubeaux and Kennedy Morris had 2 each.
The Jets concluded the half making 12 free throws out of 14 to the delightful crowd of 100 at the Hangar.
Bethel had no player with more than 2 points in the second quarter with the Jets’ defensive pressure causing the Bees many problems.
The third quarter saw the Jets with high octane fuel as they buzzed around the now flustered Bees by pouring in 19 points, which was 1 point less than they had in the entire first half for their 39-point total.
Belle Cable led the charges with five including the lone 3-pointer of the game. Conley and Morris both had 4 while Goubeaux, Audrey Cable and Kinsey Goins all had 2 apiece.
The fourth quarter showcased the Bethel Bees coming out of their hive and starting to connect with their inside scoring to close within 47-43 with 2:45 to go. However, the Jets stemmed the tide by scoring 6 of the last 10 points of the game.
“I was very pleased with this big conference win as we played a total team game by taking good shots and capitalizing on our fast break opportunities,” Franklin Monroe coach Abbey Moore said. “We have already doubled our victories from last year and are looking forward for more to come. Our goal was to handle their inside presence by working the ball around the perimeter and capitalizing on our quickness. This was a game of runs, and we were able to handle their biggest run that they had in the fourth quarter. Free throws were the determining factor tonight as we practice them over and over in game like situations.”
FM won the all-important contest with Goubeaux pacing the squad in the fourth frame with 4 points while Audrey Cable, Belle Cable and Conley all had 2 apiece for their final tally of 49.
Amassing those 49 points for the Jets were leading scorer Conley with 14 points, which was aided by going 9-of-9 from the free throw line. Audrey Cable scored 10 points, Belle Cable 9, Goubeaux 8, Morris 6 and Goins rounded out the scoring with 2 points.
Leading the attack for Bethel was Alaina Hawthorne with 14, Becky Schweiterma 12, Kayla Grable 5, Morgan Crase 5, Klaudia Lowery 2, Delaney Hardert 2 and Sarah Swisher scored 1 point.
